Stony Island is an island in the Detroit River, in southeast Michigan. It has been used for hunting and fishing as long as humans have inhabited the region; from the mid-19th century to the mid-20th century, it was the site of a small settlement and served as a central location for the construction of the Livingstone Channel, as well as various civil engineering projects involving the Detroit River. By the 1990s, it had become completely uninhabited; it is now open to the public and administered by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources.
Stony Island Stony Island Stony Island | |
Geography | |
---|---|
Location | Michigan |
Coordinates | 42°07′33″N 83°07′56″W[1] |
Area | 100 to 240 acres (40 to 97 ha)[2][3] |
Highest elevation | 577 ft (175.9 m)[1] |
Administration | |
United States | |
State | Michigan |
County | Wayne |
Stony Island's coordinates are 42°07′33″N 83°07′56″W[1] and it is contained within Grosse Ile Township, in Wayne County.[1][4][5] In the Detroit River, it is downstream of Lake St. Clair and upstream of Lake Erie. Immediately to its west is the much-larger Grosse Ile, which is approximately 1,000 ft (300 m) away;[5] it was once connected to Grosse Ile by a railroad bridge,[6] which was demolished by 1912.[7][8] Past Grosse Ile is Trenton, Michigan.[5] To its east is the Livingstone Channel, approximately 500 ft (150 m) wide, across which lies Crystal Island.[5][9][10][11] To the east of Crystal Island, across the Amherstburg Channel, is Amherstburg, Ontario.[10][11] Bois Blanc Island is to the southeast; Powder House Island, Fox Island, Elba Island, and Sugar Island are to the southwest.[9]
Stony Island consists of a round, naturally-formed central hub, from which radiate numerous limestone pilings.[5][9] These pilings were placed to form the edge of the Livingstone Channel, through which ships pass going south.[12]
The United States Geological Survey (USGS) gave Stony Island's elevation as 577 ft (176 m) in 1980,[1] and it has an area of approximately 100 acres (40 ha).[4]
Stony Island was originally inhabited by the Potawatomi, Native Americans who hunted and fished there;[4] in 1781, it was deeded to the Macomb family of Grosse Ile.[4] It is shown, as "Stone Island", in an 1818 United States government survey by Joseph Fletcher and Edward Tiffin.[13] It also appears on an 1855 map of the area, to the east of plots on Grosse Ile owned by John William and David Macomb.[14]
In the late 19th century, railroad tracks were constructed, connecting it to Grosse Ile[2] as part of the Canada Southern Railroad's ferry crossing between the United States and Canada.[4] By 1907, the bridge had been abandoned for "many years"; a public hearing was set for September 7 to address the issue of removing it as an "obstruction to navigation",[7] and it had been removed by 1912.[8]
In the 1900s, the project to dredge and expand the Livingstone Channel for ship traffic began; Stony Island "grew into prominence almost in a night".[15] Stony Island was "the base from which one of the most daring feats in engineering annals – the construction in midriver of a cofferdam a mile long and a sixth of a mile wide – was conducted".[15] At the time, the cofferdam was "the largest ever constructed".[15] By the 1920s, Dunbar & Sullivan was using the island as a central part of its dredging and excavation operations.[2][4][16] Work was still going on "24 hours a day" by 1931.[17]
In later years, industrial activity died down, and residents left the island; the houses were demolished, but several abandoned structures were remaining in 1998.[4] By the late 20th century, a single caretaker was its only inhabitant;[2] Jack Mather, a retired sailor employed by Dunbar & Sullivan, lived in a two-room shack on a barge with his two dogs (Sweetheart and Bruiser).[16] He lived on the island from 1977 until the company ceased operations in 1987.[16][18]
In 1994, the Grosse Ile Nature and Land Conservancy began to pursue the island's acquisition. The island was eventually purchased by the State of Michigan in 1997,[3] through the Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund, for $750,000 (equivalent to $1.37 million in 2021).[4] While the island is currently a part of Grosse Ile Township, it has no residents, and no utility companies provide service to it.[4] As of 2015, Stony Island (as well as the nearby Celeron Island) were owned by the State of Michigan, and managed by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources' Wildlife Division.[3] Most of Stony Island is part of the Pointe Mouillee State Game Area, and accessible to the public for hunting and camping, except for a small portion of north-south pilings on the northeast corner.[19]
The Great Lakes Institute for Environmental Research described the Stony Island area as "a mix of upland, wetland, and swift-moving, shallow water", and said it was "one of the largest remaining wildlife habitat and fish spawning areas in the lower Detroit River".[4] The "upland" area, consisting of approximately 50 acres (20 ha), contains various old-growth vegetation (including chinkapin oak, hackberry and cottonwood). Its waters are partially shielded by a limestone barrier, creating a shallow "bay" that more than 23 species of waterfowl have been found to use as a staging area during migration.[4] Numerous types of fish spawn at the island; a 1982 report by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service listed:
Fishing at Stony Island "tends to focus on white bass, northern pike, and other species".[21]